Proverbs chapter 28 in verse 1. Last week we finished up chapter 27, we are in verse 22 through 27, and we titled that Know the State of Your Flock. We're titling the message here this evening Holy Boldness. He said here in verse one, and by the way, there's many good subjects in this chapter. Verse two that we'll be starting in next week, dealing with princes and nations. Also in verse four, a wonderful verse, they that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them. Also verse nine, verse 13 and 14, several different and good subjects in this chapter. He said here in verse one, he said, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a line. Father, we do thank you this evening for this week that you have given to us to go about our business. And we thank you for this evening that you've given to us as well that we can assemble together here tonight. We just pray your blessings upon our time together. We pray, Lord, for thy presence to be with us. And we pray, Lord, that you speak to us by your spirit and by your word. We ask all of these things in Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Our text in verse 1 teaches the confidence the believer can have in the Lord. Let's read this again, and we're going to turn away from it, and there's two thoughts that we find in this passage. The first thing, he said, the wicked flee when no man pursueth. We find that many that are lost, they live in fear of everything because they do not have the peace of God in their hearts. And we also find here in the text, he's comparing the wicked with the righteous, the lost with the saved. And he said, but the righteous are bold as a line. Keep your marker here, we will come back and read another passage in Proverbs, but I want you to turn with me to Leviticus, and notice with me in Leviticus chapter 26. Leviticus chapter 26, this passage is similar to Deuteronomy 28, there's dealing with the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience, but I'm gonna come here and just read a few verses. We found that sin, guilt, brings fear, and the removal of guilt gives confidence. Notice as we come here, I'm just gonna take one or two verses. The first 11 verses, let's see, the first 13 verses is dealing with obedience, the blessings of obedience, the Lord's blessings upon those who trust Him, and even tells us in verse 6, the middle of the verse, well he speaks of peace and he said, you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid. But notice as we come to verse 17, we find here in verse 17, because it begins in verse 14, that those who will not obey his word. He said in verse 17, I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when none pursueth you. In other words, we see here the fear of the wicked. There are many things that they fear. They fear what's going to take place in our days, the stock market. We just go on with a list of things that people fear and spend their life trying to save themselves against those things. but we find that the righteous have a peace of God that dwells within them. God gives them peace. Let me give you an example of this. Turn to Genesis chapter three. Give you a couple examples here. In Genesis chapter three, reading from verse seven, we read about Adam here, and we find that Adam lived in peace. in the presence of God in paradise. But after sin entered in, after they rebelled against God, sin brought fear into their life. And instead of entering into the presence of God, they fled and hid from the presence of God. And the wicked have been doing that ever since. He says here, beginning in verse seven, he said, the eyes of them both are open. And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden." Of course, the Lord began dealing with them and talking with them about that. But we find that sin brought guilt and it brought fear. in the hearts of Adam and Eve. Notice in Genesis chapter 4 the same is true when we come to Cain. I'm just going to read two verses, verse 13 and 14. We find that Cain, who killed his brother, was afraid to be killed himself. Fear entered into his heart afterwards after he sinned. Verse 13, It says, And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me. The man that killed his own brother now feared of being killed because of his sin and his rebellion against God. Notice what we in Genesis, not Genesis, but Revelation, in Revelation chapter six, then we'll go back to Proverbs. Revelation chapter six. If you've taken notes, Isaiah 57, 21, there is no peace, saith the Lord to the wicked. And also we find that in Matthew 14, the first five verses, that Herod killed John the Baptist, and then later heard of the fame of Jesus and was worried, he was perplexed and troubled, and thought the possibility that John had been risen from the dead. In other words, there was fear that entered into his wicked heart. Well, notice here in the book of Revelation, we find that the sixth seal is open beginning in verse 12. In verse 12, there's the great earthquake, the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. And he continues to speak of that, but notice verse 15, and the kings of the earth. Now again, we're talking about the lost, the wicked, the kings of the earth. and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? We find here that all men of the earth, there was a fear in their hearts, and they're fleeing from the wrath of God, or at least they think they're fleeing from the wrath of God, and they hid themselves in the rocks and in the dens and so forth of the mountains because of this wrath. But in verse 17, it said, For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? The answer to that question is in chapter 7. He begins in chapter 7. We'll read the first three verses. He said, After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their forehead. And that seal is mentioned from verses 4 through verse 8. So we find that there's those that were fearful The wicked, they were fearful, those that are lost because of all this judgment to come upon the earth. But we find that there are those who were not fearful, those who were sealed by the living God. And you also read from verses nine through the end of the chapter, there's a great multitude that is included in with this. And as we see the closing of this chapter, in verses 14 through 17, these are those that came out of great tribulation and they are in the presence of God and around his throne. So there's some here that are fearful and fleeing, and there's some here that are bold as a line, and they stand true to the Lord, and they trust in Him, and they're sealed by God Himself. They're sealed by the Holy Spirit. We preached from this text maybe a month or two months ago out of the book of Ephesians as well. Let's go back and read this one more time, and then read another passage here in Proverbs. He says here in verse 1 again of chapter 28, this is a great verse, isn't it? Compares the righteous and the unrighteous, the saved and the lost. And he said, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Turn with me to chapter 14. So the wicked flee, they live in fear of everything because they do not have the peace of God in their hearts. The righteous are as bold as a lion, speaks of the Christian's confidence, the Christian's courage, and the Christian's bravery in the Lord. Our confidence is not in ourselves, but in God. It's a sanctified confidence. It's a holy boldness. It's not arrogance or pride or self-reliance or anything like that, but the Christian has their trust in the Lord, not only for salvation, but for every day that they live. You know, we may not like some of the things we see going on in our country, but I'll tell you what, this preacher don't spend his time in the news every day being frustrated with it. I only look at what I need to occasionally. I'm not going to listen to this garbage every day. I don't want to lose my joy and my confidence and my boldness in the Lord. Because we know that things are going to get worse and worse. We know that nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be wars and rumors of wars and wickedness. We know that these things are so. Notice in Proverbs, I think these two verses, verse 26 and 27, really sum this up. And by the way, I'll give you another verse, Proverbs 30, verse 30, Proverbs 30, 30. And the context is speaking of three things which go well and four are comely and going, that is, agreeable and suitable. And one of those things, I'm just going to read one, one of those is, it says, a lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any. So it fits with our text that we're talking about. A lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any. In other words, it's bold, it's courageous, it's brave, it's not easily frightened. Well, notice now here in chapter 24. In chapter 24, and again, when we talk about bold as a lion, We're not talking about arrogance and pride and self-reliance or anything like that. We're talking about confidence in the Lord, a sanctified or a holy confidence. He says here in verse 26 and 27, he says, in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and his children shall have a place of refuge. We don't have to live in fear. He said the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life in verse 27 to depart from the snares of death. We have safety, we have a refuge in the Lord. This is what he's talking about. Again, being bold as a lion speaks of the Christian's confidence, the Christian's courage, the Christian's bravery in the Lord. We'll turn with me to Psalms 27. In Psalms chapter 27, and notice here, I'm gonna read the first five or six verses. And this is David in this passage. By the way, speaking of a lion, we're talking about that which is fearless. that which is courageous, bold, strong. I'm gonna give you a quote, and I think this is probably, I've had it for many years, and I think it's just a partial quote. Sometimes I'll get quotes, I give credit to anyone I quote from, but sometimes I'll add some stuff around in it, and then I forget what I put in it, so I'm just gonna say a partial quote. In Speech of the Lion, the lion is known for its courage, strength, and power. It is called the king of beasts, very bold, does not run from the hunter, nor is frightened. If he does yield, he retires slowly, step by step, frequently looking upon his pursuer, keeping his face to the enemy. In other words, if they do retreat or retire, they don't just take off in a fast run, they do it slowly and so forth. Now, notice with me as we come here to chapter 27 of Psalms, the first five verses He says, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? I think about these words we're saying here. We don't have to live in fear. He said, when the wicked even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise up against me, in this I will be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and the and to inquire in his temple for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion and the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me upon a rock and he goes on to speak of this. We find here that David had no fear in battle because of his God and also because of God's temple and God's protection of him. Chapter 3, I'm going to give you a couple of the verses here in Psalms. In Psalms 3, verses 5 and 6, It says, I laid me down and slept. I waked for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. We find the Lord is our safety even in our sleep. We also find if you will write down just Psalms, I'm going to ask you to turn to Revelation 5, but write down Psalms 1, 12, and in verse 7, Psalms 112, and in verse 7, he said, He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. Now, notice with me in the book of Revelation, chapter 5, come back here again. Revelation chapter 5, I want to read the first five or six verses from this chapter. The Lord is referred to as the line of the tribe of Judah, talking about bold as a line, and the tribe from which the king of kings would come from. And it says here beginning in verse one, it said, I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. Now chapter four, throughout this chapter describes the throne of God the Father. The word throne is mentioned here several times. As we get into chapter five, we see basically the throne of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we find here that in the hand of the Father there is a book that is written within and on the back side and sealed with seven seals. When you get into chapter 6 verse 1 you begin to see these seals being opened. We just read about the sixth seal just a moment ago. And this book here seems to contain the terms of redemption and also of judgment. It's only the Lamb of God that can open this book and pour out the seals, pour out the judgments upon the earth. So the book seems to contain the terms of redemption and also of judgment. the Lord redeeming back all things unto Himself through the blood that He shed at Calvary's cross. And then He alone as the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, He alone can bring judgment upon the world. He alone can redeem His people and judge the world. So it says in verse 2, It says, And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open, and to read the book, neither to look thereon. Then he said in verse 5, I'll read verse 5 and 6 together, He said, And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not. Behold, the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof. And he said in verse six, and I beheld in low in the midst of the throne of the four beasts in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and 10, let me back up, seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. So we find in verse five, we got here in the two verses, the Lamb of God and the line of the tribe of Judah. And the Lamb of God, again, represents Christ's humility, going to the cross to die for our sins. And the Lion of the tribe of Judah represents the boldness of our Lord. And it says here in verse 5 again, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed. In other words, he's overcome, he's conquered. has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof." Again, it seems that this book that's mentioned here contains the terms of redemption and also judgment. So as we think about the Lord, not only as the Lamb of God that gave himself as a sacrifice, the humble lamb, we see him as the line of the tribe of Judah. Now, when we think about him in this way, we find that in 1 John 3 and verse 14, and I'm not asking you to turn there, we find that he destroyed the works of the devil. As the line of the tribe of Judah, he's powerful. and he destroyed the works of the devil. In Isaiah 9, verse 6 and 7, he secured the kingdom and the new covenant when he came at his first coming, and we'll finish all of that at his second coming. We find that the Lord Jesus, as He was on His way and His journeys toward Jerusalem, He set His face as a flint to go to Jerusalem to die this horrible death. He allowed nothing to stop Him on this journey to go to the cross to die for our sins. As a matter of fact, in John 11, the first 11 verses, Lazarus had died and the Lord Jesus was going back to Bethany knowing that they wanted to kill him, they wanted to stone him according to chapter 10 and in verse 31. So what do we see? We see that the Lord Jesus, now the devil is referred to as a lion, but that lion is no match for the lion of the tribe of Judah. It shows us his power, his strength, his glory. It shows us his confidence and what he accomplished for you and I at Calvary's Cross. Now there's three thoughts I want to end with, and I want you to turn to Hebrews 4. In Hebrews chapter 4, I'll do this quickly, I'm going to read from verses 14, 15, and 16. Notice as we come here to this passage, we see here boldness in prayer. We're talking about bold as a line, boldness in prayer. When again, the word bold has the ideal of confidence, not arrogance or pride. He said here, beginning in verse 14 of chapter 4 of Hebrews, Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, that is, our faith. He said in verse 15, For we have not in high priests which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Verse 16, Let us therefore come boldly. We're talking about boldness in prayer. We can come before the throne of God with confidence for help and mercy for God has promised that he would hear us. Verse 16, let us therefore come boldly, that is freely, with liberty, with confidence. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Mercy here has to do with pardon. Grace has to do with favor. And so we have a God and a Savior that we can boldly come before Him in prayer. We can come to the Lord with confidence. Romans 8.26 says that the Spirit of God helps us in our infirmities as we go to the Lord in prayer. Well, notice in the book of Acts in chapter four. In the book of Acts in chapter four, reading in verse 13, Acts chapter 4 and verse 13. Now let's talk about boldness in witnessing. God alone can give us confidence and boldness as we witness and testify to others. We know that we can have boldness in prayer. Well notice as we come here And just kind of cut into the context, the apostles have been thrown in jail for preaching. So they're standing before the scribes and elders and rulers and high priests, as you began reading in verse one. And we come down to verse 13. I'm gonna read verse 13 now, verse 10, 11, and 12. Peter is speaking unto them about Christ, and he's the only way to be saved. There's no other name under heaven whereby anyone can be saved. Then he says this in verse 13, it says, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, now they were ignorant concerning the things of this world. And he goes on to say, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. You see here the boldness. They were not afraid. They stood before the magistrates, and they've been put in jail, and of course they released them at this time, but they were not afraid. There was boldness. When we begin reading in Acts chapter one and verse eight, they're in upper room, they're praying, the Lord told them to wait for the spirit to come, as you read through all of Acts chapter one, and they prayed, the Holy Spirit came upon them, the Holy Spirit filled them, as we preached weeks ago out of Ephesians five and verse 18, that we're to be filled with the spirit, that's the only way that we can have boldness, if we walk in the Spirit and are filled with the Spirit. We'll always be afraid if that's not true in our lives. But we find that these disciples, they were fearful at one time. As Christ was being led to court to be crucified, we find that some of these disciples, they fled. They were fearful. But after Pentecost, after the Spirit came upon them in power, we find Peter stood and spoke on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 were converted. He spoke and he spoke with boldness and truth and confidence and with authority from the Word of God. And so we can have this same boldness. Notice in verse 29, verse 20, well, let's come down, let's Let's come down to verse 40 in this chapter. It says, And to him they agreed, and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name. In chapter 5, in chapter 5, by the way, I was reading in chapter 5 there, I'm sorry. You can write down chapter 5, verse 40 and 41. Now, chapter 4, I'll give you the passages here. We find, coming down to verse 29, through verse 33, 29 through 33. We find again in verse 29 they were threatened, but we also find that they had boldness to speak the Word of God. We find again in verse 31 they prayed, they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness. We find in verse 32, they was one of one heart and one soul. And we also find in verse 33, they had great power and they witnessed of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And as you read through the book of Acts, you'll find this again in chapter 9, chapter 13, chapter 14, chapter 18, chapter 19, you'll find the word bold or boldness that the Lord gave them as they walk and minister to the Lord. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They didn't walk in the flesh or in their own abilities. Now I want to read two other passages and we'll be through. I want us to turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews 13, and I want to read two verses. One of these we read Sunday, but I want to read, we did not read, I don't think we read verse six. I want to read verse five and six, and I want to focus in on verse six. We focused in this past week on verse four and also verse five. Notice in verse five, let your conversation be without covetousness, be content with such things as you have, for he saith, for he said rather, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now I want to read verse six. Notice he said in verse six, he says, so that we may boldly say, there's that word again. Think about this boldness and assurance. My first point, if there is such a thing in this sermon, was in Hebrews 4, boldness and prayer. Then we went to Acts chapter 4, boldness and witnessing, and here we find boldness in assurance, the assurance of salvation, the assurance that we belong to the Lord and He belongs to us. He said in verse 6, So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." We can boldly say the Lord is our God, He is our helper, and we do not have to fear men. the lost fear one another. Even the Bible said in Revelation 21, eight, the fearful and the unbeliever and so forth are in the lake of fire. Now, one other passage, Hebrews 11, and we're through. One other passage I wanna read in Hebrews 11, and I wanna begin reading verse 24 and use Moses as an example. We have many examples in the Bible, Elijah, Joseph, Joshua, Caleb, Daniel, and his three friends. We could go through a long list of men and women. There's a long list here in Hebrews 11. Also church histories, we could look at the martyrs. We could look at many testimonies throughout church history, the Wycliffs and the Tyndalls and so forth. We see the boldness that God gave to them. Again, not pride and arrogance or self-reliance, but boldness in the Lord that they could witness to him and live for him and stand before the threat of being put to death. Well, notice here, we take Moses for an example. And he said in verse 24, by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. And keep in mind, as we look at this, we're gonna see that not only did he refuse this, but he did not fear the wrath of Pharaoh. Pharaoh was the most powerful person in the world at this time. And Moses did not fear that. and Moses was not carrying weapons on him either. His confidence and boldness was in God, but he did not fear Pharaoh. It says in verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. He looked to the future. He looked unto the kingdom of God. And so he was not fearful. He suffered affliction with God's people. He did not live in luxury in Egypt. But here's what I'm after is verse 27. And I really don't need to read any farther than this. But he said in verse 27, he said, by faith, he forsook Egypt. What's the next few words? Yes, not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. That's God himself. He wasn't armed, he had nothing to defend himself, and he did not fear the greatest superpower on earth at this time and the greatest man on the earth as far as worldly power is concerned. He had no fear, but he had confidence in his God. Moses did not fear the wrath of the king. That's holy boldness. Would you stand with me? Father, we do thank you again for this day and for this time you've given us. We ask your blessings now upon the remaining of the service, for it's in Christ Jesus' name we pray, amen.